Voting now open for the 2012 Prix Pinocchio

30 October, 2012

The Pinocchio Sustainable Development Awards (PSDA), organised by Friends of the Earth (Les Amis de la Terre) - France, are intended to illustrate and denounce the negative impacts of some French companies that behave in total contradiction with the concepts of sustainable development that they boast of extensively.

All these commitments are legally non-binding and they are hence inefficient: while companies enjoy benefits in terms of the image they project to their shareholders, customers and citizens, they only engage in some general overall principles which are not very operational, and they are not accountable for their actions in case of non-compliance to this voluntary adherence. Although supported at the highest level by public governments that often favour the competitiveness of multinational corporations to Human Rights and environmental protection, these types of voluntary adherence have now largely proven ineffective.

Multinationals companies are taking advantage of legislative loopholes to conduct their activities to the detriment of respect of social, societal and environmental rights in the countries of the South.